Liquid cooled space suit chest band pump



Jan. 30, A1968 D. c. JENNINGS 3,356,050

' LIQUID COOLED SPACE SUIT CHEST BAND PUMP Filed Dec. 17, 1965 lzfffll/lll//lllll/ FlGJ F'IG.2

INVENTOR DAVID c- JENNINGS i Y @n GTM/Aw ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,366,06 LIQUID COOLED SPACE SUIT CHEST BAND PUMP David C. Jennings, Windsor Locks, Conn., assigner to United Aircraft Corporation, East Hartford, Conn., a

corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 514,629 1 Claim. (Cl. 103-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pump for circulating coolant through a space suit having a band encircling the wearer at chest height, opposite ends of which are connected respectively to a cylinder and to a piston. A spring urges th: piston into the cylinder whenever the wearer exhales and thus contracts the band. Inlet and outlet valves in passages communicating with the cylinder provide for circulation of cooling iiuid through the suit when the piston is reciprocated as a result of the act of respiration of the wearer.

This invention relates to duid pumps and more particularly to such a pump especially adapted to circulate cooling liquid through a space suit, or for other cooling garment applications.

In a space suit it is desirable to have complete freedom of movement of the wearer without the encumberance of attachments to any external power source.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide in a liquid cooled suit, liquid circulating pump means which is so located as not to interfere with the normal functions of the wearers body but which nevertheless can be actuated by continuous movements of the body which take place unconsciously, as in respiration.

More specifically, in accordance with this invention, a band is provided which encircles the wearers chest and is equipped with a pump having a duid inlet and a fluid outlet. As the wearer of the suit inhales and exhales in the normal course of breathing the pump is actuated to circulate a cooling fluid through the cooling passages of the space suit.

Another object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a chest band pump for circulating cooling liquid through a space suit which is actuat.d by the act of respiration of the wearer.

A further object of the invention is generally to improve the construction and convenience of space suits.

Other objects and advantages of the invention to which attention has not specifically been directed will hereinafter appear or will be pointed out in connection with the following detailed description of one illustrative example of the invention shown in the accompanying drawing.

In this drawing:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view through the wearer of a space suit at chest level showing the chest band pump in place and illustrating the extremes of position of the device during normal respiration;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the pump shown in section.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention the pump is generally indicated at 10 and consists essentially of a cylinder 12, a piston 14 and inlet and outlet valves 16 and 18, respectively, which are located in a valve body 20. The valve body supports cylinder 12 with which it is in fluid communication at one end of the cylinder. The other and projecting end of cylinder 12 is closed by a cylinder head 22 through which a piston rod 24 extends that is attached at one end to piston 14. The piston rod is secured at its extended end to one end of a 3,366,666 Patented Jan. 30, 1968 Pce flexible band 26 by means of a fitting 28 which receives the band in an elongated slot and is secured to the end of rod 24 in a socket 29 by a pin 30 which extends through the socket and the rod. The other end of the band 26 is received in a slot 32 formed in valve body 26. It will be understood that band 26 with pump 1t) connected therein between its ends encircles the wearer at chest level and is adjusted so it is a snug iit about the body of the wearer in the position of the parts shown in FIG. 2.

The band is held snugly about the wearer in the FIG. 2 position of the parts by a compression spring 34 which is located on the piston rod and abuts the piston at one end and cylinder head 22 at its other end normally to hold piston 14 in the FIG. 2 position relative to the cylinder.

The valves in the FIG. 2 position of the parts are both closed. These valves are identical in construction. Each consists of a valve chamber 36 in valve body 20 having an external closure in the form of a pipe plug 38. The inner end of chamber 36 in both valves has an annular seat 46 on which an annular valve disc 42 rests and against which it is constantly urged by a spring 44 located in the valve chamber between the valve disc and plug 38.

The inlet and outlet valves differ only in the location of the passages between their valve chambers and cylinder 12. Intake valve 16 has a passage 46 which connects its valve chamber 36 with cylinder 12 on the side of the valve disc 42 against which spring 44 bears. On the other side of the disc, chamber 36 is connected by a passage 48 with an inlet connection 56.

Outlet valve 1S has a passage 52 which connects its valve chamber 36 with cylinder 12 on the remote side of the disc from spring 44 and has a passage 54 on the opposite side of the valve disc which leads to an outlet connection 56.

Pipe plugs 38 are provided with O-ring seals 58 and piston 14 is also provided with an O-ring seal 66. Suiiicient clearance is provided between piston rod 24 and cylinder head 22 where the former passes through the head to vent the cylinder to atmosphere as the piston moves to compress spring 34.

In the operation of the device, the chest band with its attached pump is secured in position about the chest of the wearer as shown diagrammatically in FIG. l so the band will be a snug fit following an expiration of the wearer. The band will be expanded against the action of spring 34 by the following inspiration of the wearer and contracted by the spring on the next expiration. The chest band can be held in place by being carried by the suit; but preferably it is entirely separate from the suit and is maintained at chest level by means of two shoulder straps 62 and 64 which are attached to opposite sides at front and back of the band, as shown in FIG. 1, and extend over the wearers shoulders.

As the wearer inhales and tensions the strap, piston 14 moves to the right in FIG. 2, compressing spring 34 and causing cooling iluid to ilow through inlet connection 50, passage 48, and valve seat 46l into valve chamber 36 and thence through passage 46 into cylinder 16 which is at low pressure. During this flow of iluid into cylinder 12 outlet valve 18 remains firmly on its seat due to the low pressure in cylinder 12 and the pressure of its spring 44.

As the wearer exhales, the band contracts due to the action of spring 34 on piston 14 and the cooling liquid which was drawn into cylinder 12 is expelled through outlet valve 18, the disc valve 42 being lifted off its seat 40 against the action of spring 44. As piston 14 moves into the FIG. 2 position the cooling fluid will have been all forced out of the pump through outlet connection 56. This cycle of action is repeated as the wearer inhales and exhales in the normal process of respiration without any conscious effort on his part.

In the chest band pump illustrated, the normal wearer will circulate 1 to 4 pounds of water per minute depending upon his rate of respiration. The pressure loss at the 4 pound rate is typically 21/2 pounds per minute. At the l pound per minute rate the pressure loss is 0.5 pound per minute. The typical pressure rise the pump itself must overcome equals the pressure loss in the back pack cooling unit and the cooling garment amounting to about twice the amounts given above. It is estimated those requirements are approximately equivalent to the efforts normally required of the chest muscles for respiration at various activity levels.

From the above description of one form which the invention may assume in practice, it will be evident that means has been provided for pumping a cooling fluid through the cooling passages of a space suit which is powered solely by the normal act of respiration of the wearer, thus eliminating any connection of the space suit to an external source of power and giving complete freedom to the wearer of the space suit in his movements.

It will further be evident that the above result has been accomplished in a device which is automatic in its operation without conscious assistance from the wearer of the suit being cooled.

It will be further evident that such a desirable result has been attained in a device which is simple, reliable in operation and extremely inexpensive to produce and maintain throughout a long life.

While only one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that the construction and arrangement of the parts may be varied considerably without exceeding the scope of this invention as defined in the following claim.

I claim:

1. A chest band actuated pump for a liquid cooled space suit or other cooling garment comprising a cylinder and a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, said cylinder having a removable cap member closing one end and a valve body at its other end, said piston having a connecting rod extending through said cap member, said valve body having a chamber communicating with said cylinder, an inelastic chest band adapted to encircle the body of a wearer at chest height and being movable by respiratory movements of a wearer, said chest band having one connected to the extended end of said rod and its other end directly connected to said valve body, a compression spring in said cylinder surrounding said connecting rod and biasing said piston away from said cap member is opposition to the movements of said chest band, liquid inlet and outlet connections communicating with said valve chamber and inlet and outlet valves in said inlet and outlet connections respectively, whereby respiratory movements of a wearer produce reciprocal displacement of said piston relative to said valve chamber to effect liquid pumping.

References Cited UNITED STATES FATENTS 1,998,734 4/1935 Parker 230-218 2,194,809 3/1940 Powell 12S-2 2,512,990 6/1950 Alterman 165-46 2,825,501 3/1958 Miller 230--160 3,000,616 9/1961 Spangler 165-46 3,050,055 8/1962 Vautin 230-218 3,097,539 7/1963 Sitreimer 128-2 FOREIGN PATENTS 647,391 7/1937 Germany.

DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner.

W. I KRAUSS, Assistant Examiner. 

